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Brilliant CD. well pleased. Thanks.I have been a fan for many years. One of the best rock bands of all time.
This was the last Who album I needed to complete my collection of their original material. Given all the largely negative reviews I'd read and the band's own indifference to it I approached it with trepidation but I was pleasantly surprised. OK it's not a great Who album but its not a bad one and its certainly superior to the previous release with Kenny Jones on drums, Face Dances. It suffers from two problems - 1. There is no real stand-out single to drag you into the album and make you want to play it repeatedly until you learn to like the other songs. (The previous three Who albums all had at least one great single to hook you - Face Dances had 'You Better, You Bet', Who Are You had 'Who Are You' and By Numbers had 'Squeeze Box'). 2. It sounds very much of its time and the 80's is not a well-regarded 'time' these days. The over-use of synthesizers does date it and Pete Townshend's tendency to produce songs that stray into the realms of musical theatre is unchecked here. However, there are some strong tracks - the title track is great and has Roger Daltrey adopting a restrained tone that he's only really used on his solo albums. 'I've Known no War' is a classic Townshend 'protest' song and 'Emminence Front' is one of his better lead vocal performances for The Who. John Entwistle lays in with three more classic-Who rockers although the subject matter doesn't gel particularly with that of Townshend's songs. The band seem pretty tight all the way through although there, as with the song selection, there is no one incendiary performance. On the whole a satisfying album that displays The Who trying to grow old gracefully whilst continuing to embrace the technology and sounds of the time. If you're a big Who fan I suggest you try it and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised, if you're new to The Who and like their 'classic'sound I'd suggest you go for something pre-The Who 'By Numbers' or even the 2006 release 'Endless Wire'.Read full review
I am a Who fan, but I bought this album mainly for the song Eminence Front. I thought Face Dances was quite a weak album for The Who, but after seeing the edgey cover for It's Hard I thought that perhaps they had got the Kenney Jones formula right. Unfortunately the album is not The Who's strongest. The most memorable Who songs are usually the harshest with a synth in the background (Won't get Fooled, Baba O'Reilly, Who Are You), however, more wholesome albums such as Who By Numbers (which had more of an acoustic backdrop) still worked extremely well as an album. It's Hard is still good though, despite the absence of Keith Moon.
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